CAMPBELL, CALIF. – April 30, 2003 – IR Recognition Systems, the biometric component of Ingersoll-Rand’s (IR) Security & Safety Group’s Electronic Access Control Division (EACD), today announced that San Diego State University’s (SDSU) Associated Students has just celebrated using the company’s hand geometry technology for five years to provide easy access into the four entrances at the Aztec Recreation Center as well as Aztec Center Bowling & Games and racquetball facilities.

“The HandKey readers minimize people’s ability to transfer ID’s for admittance into our Center,” avows Vicki Greene, Member Services Coordinator for the Associated Students of SDSU. “ID switching is very big in the fitness club industry. The HandReaders also allow us to provide better service. No longer do our members have to remember to bring an ID card. This also means we don’t need to have an employee out front checking cards.

“In addition,” Greene states, “we feel that hand geometry is the least invasive of the biometric technologies and seems simple compared to the others. We average 3,000 entries per day with highs of 4,600.”

Instead of verifying a card or code, the Associated Students’ HandKey readers verify the person who is at the entrance. It looks at the three-dimensional size and shape of a member’s hand. The result of ninety hand measurements, including lengths, widths, thickness and surface areas, is converted into a nine-byte mathematical representation of the hand, which is stored for later use and verification.

To enter the Aztec Recreation Center, a student simply enters her unique ID number on the HandKey’s keypad and presents her hand to gain entry. Verification takes only a second.

About IR Recognition Systems

With over over 7060,000 hand geometry units throughout the world reading millions of hands each day, IR Recognition Systems, founded in 1986, is the pioneer of hand recognition technology used in access control, time and attendance and identification applications. The company is the world sales leader of biometric verification devices and serves an international clientele from its headquarters in Campbell, Calif. The hand geometry website is www.handreader.com. Phone is 408-341-4100. Recognition Systems is the biometric component of Ingersoll-Rand Corporation’s Security & Safety Group’s Electronic Access Control Division. The Ingersoll-Rand website is www.irco.com.